Abstract: In this talk I will argue why compartments are important for the origins of life, here on Earth and anywhere else in the universe. Then I will describe the fundamental properties that such compartments should have, in contrast with other physical enclosures or interfaces. After that general discussion, I will turn more specific and explain some of the main features of our current models of prebiotic compartments, focusing on fatty acid vesicles. Finally, I will go over several recent contributions to the problem of how to couple chemical processes with those dynamic compartments, which will be claimed to be one of the major transitions in biogenesis.